*** always email netiquette complied ***
Launch Date: May 23, 2001
Last # of subscribers: 2451
Present # of subscribers: 2598
Thought of the Day
"Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely."
--Karen Kaiser Clark
ARTICLE: ARE YOU CORRECTABLE?
ARTICLE: Lead Cost Per Sale? (not what you think!)
If there is one thing that I know that I, myself, it is that I know that I AM CORRECTABLE!!!
Knowing that I'm correctable is one of the most valuable teachers that I have.
Knowing that I'm correctable causes me to accept correction when I am wrong.
Knowing that I'm correctable causes me to take new and improved actions when my actions turn out to be unproductive.
Knowing that I'm correctable makes me seek knowledge, find that knowledge, and put it to work on my behalf and the behalf of others.
Knowing that I'm correctable is the perfect excuse to strike up a conversation with Wisdom, and Wisdom doesn't need to make me humble first.
Knowing that I'm correctable makes me test what does and does not work, causing me to do what works, because I know that I am correctable enough to change myself in order to do what works.
Knowing that I'm correctable causes me to embrace change, because I know, as correctable as I am, many improvements and changes might need to be made.
Knowing that I'm correctable causes me to work the percentages, because I know correcting myself into getting higher sales percentages.
I love the freedom of being correctable, because it allows me to make many comparisons, gather much data, and put two and two together all over the place.
I love being correctable, because I am constantly learning from my mistakes.
I am so courageous in my correctablity that I go out on a limb, unafraid to make mistakes, because I know that the new information that comes in will help me to grow and succeed.
How about you?
Isn't it better to be correctable?
Stephan Bourget
BMI's President & CEO
http://cc.bourget-marketing-international.com
If you ever do go into the ezine business, one of the most bizarre things you will encounter is the "Lead Cost Per Sale."
What exactly is that?
Very simply: every time you make a sale to anyone, anywhere from two to ten people will unsubscribe!
It's absolutely true! People "punish" you by unsubscribing, whenever your sales messages are effective!
It doesn't matter how sincere you are.
It doesn't matter how right you are.
It doesn't matter how much sense you make.
And it doesn't matter what you are selling!
They will always, always match you "unsubscribes for sales!"
I'm not exactly sure I entirely understand the phenomenon, but I have watched it occur, day after day, week after week, month after month.
It has nothing to do with whether you are doing well or doing so-so. Most closely as I can figure it is these unsubscribes have felt the sales pressure and are rebelling against the compulsion you have placed them under. In other words, they're running for the door because they know they have to buy!
If an ezine has no "unsubscribe to sales ratio," I'd be willing to bet dollars against donuts they don't have any sales, either!
Now, this matter of unsubscribes can be highly demotivating to an unseasoned ezine operator. The upstart is usually a good person, who tries to please everyone and make everyone happy, afraid to offend anyone, and searching for that perfect political correctness that will allow them to make many sales, without anyone unsubscribing. The problem is: that kind of thinking doesn't work.
It's a good idea to call for unity, but many divisive people will oppose it, dreaming up some kind of individuality notions. It's a good idea to take clear stands on issues, but there will always be those who want to take the opposite tack against you. It's a good idea to be absolutely sincere and aggressive about it, but there will always be those who will accuse you of lying, egocentricity, and scamming.
The point is that you cannot have everyone's sales, so you had better get clear about who your market really is. When an ezine editor finds an entire subscriber base full of people who will take no action, something is wrong. No one is feeling compelled to buy, no one is receiving enough clear selling demand.
Over time, I've often been criticized for taking controversial stands. Many people were angry with me when I told them their surfing plans would come to nothing. I was right.
Many people were angry with me when I told them HotYellow98 was up to no good. Now I'm receiving numerous reports that they've suddenly shut down.
Many people were angry with me when I called George Bush the President of the United States, two weeks before it became a decided matter.
What does this mean?
Do I deliberately set out to make people angry?
Of course not!
But, the thing about people is how they attempt to hold you hostage to their public scrutiny. They assume the role of judge and jury over you, ever ready to punish you for any strong opinion. What has angered some is my "Salmon swimming against the current" style. I particularly detest the feeling that I can't say a certain thing, because, no matter how right I am, there are some people who are going to make an effort to punish me for saying it!
One year ago I took my computer out of the box, saw that free ads were a great way to introduce people to a marketing environment, that an ezine could create that marketing environment, and that programs could be run successfully, because the environment already consisted of those who were either skilled marketers, or were interested in becoming effective marketers.
I began by picking up subscribers wherever I could, by posting, by answering email, by talking with whoever wanted to correspond. I began with less than 50 subscribers and today, after only one year, I consistently have many thousands in the subscriber base.
Now, make no mistake about it, this is an unruly bunch... And that's no insult, it's just a fact of the internet right now. People have a very hard time maintaining their attention on anything for very long. There's always something new and glittering popping up all the time. It divides people's strength, increases the difficulty of making the sale for every program, and often leads to just a bunch of people joining everything for free they can find, which doesn't do anything for their commissionable paychecks.
This is what the ezine operator is up against. It's not exactly easy to run the thing. In some ways it is easy, like the ever flowing supply of people who would like free ads, filling your subscriber base. But in other ways it's not easy, like people ready to punish you with unsubscribes, every time you write an effective sales letter... And... If you write effective sales letters everyday, you must be willing to take something of a sustained beating for being successful!
That's part of the price.
The other thing you will notice is that people don't just jump right in and assume you're a good person. After all, you are doing what has been called evil for two thousand years... That is, you are on your way to making more money than the other 95% of the planet and you are asking others to join you, most of which have zero confidence in their own abilities and no real self-expectation of success for themselves... Which is why they will blame you, if they fail.
The only reason someone doesn't buy something is because they have no self-expectation of success. When someone says, "I can't afford it, "what they usually mean is, "I realize it's only a few dollars, but I'll never be able to do anything to make it pay off for me." They lack the confidence of success. They do not believe they can make sales. They expect to fail, so they are reluctant to buy.
People are always having learning tossed at them, but people are not good learners. They don't hear what you're saying most of the time, and misunderstand the better part of what's left after that. This is not to put anyone down, it's just a simple fact of scattering methods to the masses. It is very difficult to effect change in another person, because the die has been cast, so to speak. This is why people respond to hype, because hype by-passes personal performance and productivity requirements and encourages the people to dream. But, when the dream fades, they don't like the work in front of them. Then, they feel cheated. Then they get angry. Then they blame you for selling it to them.
Except in severe cases, however, it's usually a matter of the people not being willing to follow instructions.
You can tell a person how to sell.
You can show a person where the market is.
But, if they will not function productively for themselves, there isn't a whole lot you can do, except do the work for them... Which can work for a while... But, at some point you need the team to start picking up their share of the workload, simply because you're being stretched too far... And that's where and why "Leadership Development" comes in. Unless leaders are developed to carry on the work, all you will have is a bunch of people demanding you do all the work for them!
People are not good at duplicating. You can sponsor the first level for your first level, but will they sponsor the first level for their first level? If they would, downlines would grow so fast it would spin your head in circles!
You could start an ezine and show people how easy it was to sponsor one or two thousand people with your ezine. But, will those one or two thousand follow your lead, run their own ezines, and sponsor their own one or two thousand? If they did, you'd have hundreds of thousands in your downlines in no time flat!
So remember the actual lead cost per sale and do not be discouraged when growth comes slowly. That's part of it. Growth will come.
Gregory Locke
CEO iNetStar, Inc.
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Stephan Bourget, CEO
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